Remembering the 1979 Daytona 500, NASCAR's 'perfect storm'
If this were 1979, chances are you wouldn't know a whole lot about NASCAR. (You wouldn't be reading this story on a computer, but that's a whole different angle.) NASCAR was a regional oddity, an obsession within the borders of the South and almost nowhere else. Sure, the schedule included stops in Michigan, California, Pocono, but NASCAR was firmly anchored and entrenched in the South.
Then came the 1979 Daytona 500, a race that literally changed the entire perception of NASCAR. A freak snowstorm had frozen the Northeast, the race was the first broadcast in its entirety live, and suddenly, the Daytona 500 turned from local news item to national phenomenon. Fox Sports 1 is running the documentary "A Perfect Storm" in the days prior to this year's 500, and it's well worth your time.
The short version: Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough were racing hard through the final laps, trading paint and finally hooking up in Turns 3 and 4, sliding down to the infield. Richard Petty would go on to win the race, but that soon became an afterthought.
Donnie's brother Bobby, a lap down, wheeled around and asked Donnie if he wanted a ride back to the garage. Yarborough immediately began shouting that the wreck was Bobby's fault, which perplexed Bobby to no end.
"I wasn't anywhere near him!" Bobby laughed in a recent interview with Yahoo Sports. "I think I questioned his ancestry. That wasn't very smart. I shouldn't have done that, but I did."
Yarborough ran toward Bobby, who knew that Cale had a way of cussing out anyone at anytime. "I got to questioning his ancestry more, he kept running at me, and hit me in the face with his helmet," Allison said. "It cut my nose and my lip. It stunned me. I looked down, saw some blood dripping in my lap, and I said to myself, 'I gotta get out of this car, handle this right now, or I'm going to be running from him the rest of my life.'"
Allison has a well-worn but still perfect line: "I got out of the car, and he went to work beating on my fist with his nose," he said. "I've told that story so many times, and every time I get a smile." (NASCAR also fined Allison a net $2,000, and he's still a bit cranky about never getting that back.)
The fight played out on national television to an audience of millions. That's not exactly a surprise to see in 2015, but in 1979, where TV was a highly sanitized and scrubbed version of American life, it was stunning. And it vaulted NASCAR into the nation's consciousness, a position it's held ever since.
"A Perfect Storm" and its companion documentary, "1979 Daytona 500," will air throughout the week, part of Fox Sports' 80 hours of NASCAR coverage leading up to Sunday's Daytona 500. Check it out, and say a little prayer we'll get something equally good on Sunday.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter.
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